Times and Seasons

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven….He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart. Ecclesiastes 3: 1, 11 ESV

The idea of a balanced life is nothing new. We have balanced diets of sweet and savoury, meat and veg, and the balance we need to do life in all its complexity. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, tells us that everything has a season, and sandwiched between verses 1 and 11 are the well known words which unfortunately we mostly hear at funerals, referring to “a time to live and die” and other opposing sides of the same life.

God has made everything beautiful in its time, and how true this is. From the flower in the bud which is undoubtedly beautiful, to the withering leaf when that same plant is anything but beautiful. If you are a more mature person, as you look back to teenage years, do you not think of yourself as a once handsome man, or beautiful girl, and now looking in the mirror those days are gone? There is a season and everything is beautiful in its time, and we see it and accept it as truth. The old saying goes: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” so is it too much to think that there is beauty in life at all stages? Even for the older, more mature, with signs of life etched on their face, and the older flower or plant which will eventually give new life as it falls to the ground? Yes, everything is beautiful in its time! Everything and everyone!!

God has also put eternity into man’s heart according to the wisest man, Solomon. So what does he mean? We share the planet with atheists and agnostics and they claim that there is no afterlife, and no God. I have a recurring thought that those who shout loudest about there being no God, are the ones most likely to be struggling with the very concept. Empty vessels perhaps? God’s Word is true, and when it says that God has put eternity into man’s heart, then we can go to the bank with it, no matter what some ‘learned’ academics and the ignorant may say. It is impossible to show or prove, but I believe there are more deathbed conversions, and examples of the ‘dying thief on the cross’ encounters with the living Christ than we can ever know.

Hidden Heart

Have you watched the TV adverts which show how to be better, bigger, lovelier, softer, stronger, happier, etc etc…? They all have one thing in common. To be liked and loved, you need to change, and we are here to take your money and help you. So we are sold an image of a bodybuilder, a youthful looking 70 year old, happy, smiling holiday times, contented spouses, and again the list could go on. Each one depends on a change to the outer you. That part which others see. The superficial. So, does a change to the outside make a corresponding change on the inside? I fear not! Are we so stupid? Apparently we are, because the sales of these products increase every year.

The world is good, and getting better at convincing us that the answer to all our problems is a pill, potion, lotion, some makeup, or a work out. Surely we are not that gullible? Can we not see through the commercial sham? On the other hand, what if the change came from the inside? Would that make a corresponding difference to our outward appearance at no cost? Absolutely yes, and with 100% certainty! Ask yourself, who would I want to  spend the rest of my life with, a good looker or a good heart? Case closed. Once again, the Bible is not silent.

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of … all uncleanness. Matthew 23:27